Octagon 2018-19 Issue 4

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OCTAGON

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VOL.42 NO.4 • Sacramento Country Day School • 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento • January 15, 2019

Junior proposals on open campus, press freedom dropped

BY HÉLOÏSE SCHEP

DECISION TIME History teacher Sue Nellis displays a copy of “Mexican Americans/American Mexicans: From Conquistadors to Chicanos” by Matt. S. Meier and Feliciano Ribera during a Sept. 10 meeting concerning senior Gabi Alvarado’s proposal. Also shown are high school English department chair Jason Hinojosa and Alvarado. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE CHAO

Clubs continue to push for ethnic studies course; faculty says materials in classes already diverse

BY ALLISON ZHANG

“Something I noticed while I them a specific ethnic studies was studying at Country Day was course would not be created. that some people were in the bub“They said they had other plans s a junior in her AP ble of Country Day,” he said. and felt their curriculum was alEnglish Language and “I would notice when students ready on the right track,” Ledesma Composition class last would say racist phrases or mock said. year, senior Gabi Alminorities. Those Alvarado also varado wrote a proposal about cretypes of little things ating an ethnic studies course to said that Wells told — that would usureplace Country Day’s sophomore her the curriculum It’s invalually come out of noWorld Cultures course. at Country Day was able to where — made me Alvarado perceived a lack of fair already diverse and realize that some have students who that an ethnic studrepresentation of minorities in the students aren’t very care about what curriculum — especially in history ies course was not informed about classes. “one of their priorimaterial they’re how the world is “But the disparity happens in ties,” Alvarado said. looking at in going on; it’s not a every class,” Alvarado said. “VidAccording to bad thing, but they class.” eos we watch in science classrooms Wells, staffing and should not disre—Tucker Foehl logistical problems are always all white, all male. And spect something when you get to higher-level classprevented the crethey don’t know es and want to be in that field, if ation of a dedicated about.” you’re seeing a movie where you’re class for ethnic studies this year.

Kaeleigh Valverde, ’17, added not represented, then it’s anothKuipers added that replacing that Country Day’s diversity neceser nail in the coffin, showing you the sophomore World Cultures sitates accurate representation in again that people who look like course would be difficult. Rather, classes. you don’t make it — people who he felt Alvarado’s proposal out“It’s important for students to be are white and male make it. educated about different minori- lined a sociology course instead.

“And just pointing that out, just “The course they’re envisioning ties, and the next step forward in for teachers to say, ‘Think about it,’ would be a really valuable addimost schools has been to promote is important.” tion, but at this moment, the ondiversity and acceptance of other But high school science chair going conversation is about where people,” she said.

Kellie Whited disagreed with AlBut these students aren’t alone that would best fit,” Kuipers said. varado.

Sophomore World Cultures in their support of an ethnic stud“While I don’t show many vidteacher Bill Crabb agreed, adding ies class, as Foehl also commendeos in my classes, much progress ed the proposal and the push to that he would like to see more sohas been made to ensure that improve Country cial science classes at Country Day. classroom videos in“Right now, it’s just history,” Day. clude a diverse group he said. “An ethnic studies class “It’s invaluable to It’s important for students to be edof actors,” Whited have students who would be perfect, but we would ucated about different minorities.” said. “It is not a fair care about what ma- need student support. The stuor factual statement —Kaeleigh Valverde terial they’re looking dents need to be interested and to say that they are all at in class and are sign up for it.” white and all male.”

On the other hand, Kuipers and invested in our proAlvarado shared support for the proposal; in a May grams,” Foehl said. “I think it’s Alvarado suggested that the course her proposal paper with head of 3 poll of high school students sent great that students are asking for would be made a requirement. school Lee Thomsen, head of high out by Bruce-Romo, 67 percent of a deeper look at race and ethnicity “My hope is maybe there’s a school and English teacher Brooke respondents said Country Day’s in their classes.” way to adjust the daily schedule to Wells, assistant head of school history classes didn’t cover enough Later in September, most of the open up spaces for ethnic studies and history teacher Tucker Foehl, material on ethnic minorities. same students and faculty recon- where it’s a required course but middle and high school history Many alumni, such as Jesus vened to discuss the proposal. something that’s not a full, yeardepartment chair Chris Kuipers, Galindo, ’17, also supported adding According to Ledesma, Wells history teachers Sue Nellis and an ethnic studies class. and other administrators told STUDIES page 6 >>

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Liz Leavy, high school English department chair Jason Hinojosa and third-grade teacher Kristi Mathisen. Then on May 25, representatives from ChicanX-LatinX Student Union (CLSU), the Chinese Club and the LGBTQA+ Club met with some of those teachers and administrators.

During that meeting, Alvarado and others explained the proposal and answered questions about the “nitty-gritty things,” according to senior Yanele Ledesma, a member of CLSU. However, Ledesma and Alvarado said many of the questions asked had already been answered in the proposal, and the meeting did not go as smoothly as they had wished.

“It wasn’t really productive for any of us,” Ledesma said. “We could tell none of them had read the proposal.”

Wells said he was under the impression that the agenda of the meeting was to present the proposal.

But Esme Bruce-Romo, ’18, who was also a member of CLSU, added that she felt “we basically just went around in circles the entire time.”

There was significant student

For over 10 years, juniors in former English teacher Patricia Fels’ AP Language and Composition class wrote proposal essays in which they argued for a change in their communities.

Fels said that while many essays in past years focused on topics outside Country Day, such as the administration of a charity league or sports club, last year more essays focused on school issues.

Fels encouraged students to give their essays to someone in charge of the program they were writing about.

“In the real world, nobody would go write a proposal just for the sake of writing,” she said. “You write a proposal to get to effect change.”

And last year, some students followed her advice.

Seniors Gabi Alvarado, Jack Christian and Mehdi Lacombe brought their papers to school administrators.

Fels said that, although rare, this wasn’t the first time a proposal essay was discussed with school administrators; a few years ago, the Board of Trustees discussed a proposal essay suggesting the addition of a crosswalk with automatic pedestrian lights at the intersection of Munroe Street and Latham Drive. However, according to Fels, the city lacked the funds to add the pedestrian lights, and it wasn’t a priority.

Alvarado wrote about adding an ethnic studies course to the high school curriculum (see pages one, six and seven).

Lacombe’s proposal, which would apply only to juniors and seniors, would allow students to go off campus and either eat at a nearby restaurant or bring food back to campus if they had a free period before or after lunch. (A similar policy was in place 25 years ago, before the school expanded its acreage.)

Students would still be prohibited from driving their peers off campus, a violation of Country Day’s handbook.

To avoid possible lawsuits, a waiver would have to be signed by the parents of these students.

Under Lacombe’s proposal, classrooms would be less crowded during bad weather, and the staff would have to provide fewer lunches.

However, head of high school Brooke Wells said he was concerned about students crossing Munroe Street and their safety in general.

PROPOSALS page 6 >>

INSIDE News....................................1-3 Sports...................................4-5 Centerpoint........................6-7 Editorial..................................8 A & E..............................................9 Feature ..................................10-11 Backpage ..................................12

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News • January 15, 2019

The Octagon

Seniors discuss pros, cons of applying early, how to cope with receiving decisions

BY LARKIN BARNARD-BAHN

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wenty-six of 32 seniors polled Oct. 11 said they were applying to colleges either early action (EA), a nonbinding application with an earlier deadline, or early decision (ED), a binding decision. Students also can apply restricted early action (REA), allowing them to apply early action to only one school. In early application rounds, students can be accepted, rejected or deferred (meaning colleges consider them in their regular decision applicant pool).

Five seniors who applied early met for a roundtable Dec. 20 to discuss their experiences applying ED, EA and/or REA: Jacqueline Chao (deferred REA to Yale); Kyra LaFitte (accepted EA to Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, Pepperdine and Gonzaga); Chardonnay Needler (deferred EA to the University of Chicago); Alex Rogawski (accepted ED to Brandeis and applied EA to Purdue, Tulane, Fordham, Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Oregon and Maryland); and Joe Zales (accepted ED to Harvey Mudd and applied EA to Case Western Reserve, Santa Clara and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Q: Why did you apply ED or EA? Rogawski: I did ED because I knew for a while that (Brandeis) was my top school, and I wanted to tell them that I was really committed. I thought it would boost my chances slightly.

I applied to a lot of state schools EA, and the (EA) admission rates are significantly higher. Some don’t even consider merit scholarships for (people applying) regular decision.

Needler: I applied EA because my dad forbade me from doing schools ED because of financial aid. If you apply to somewhere ED, you have to go, and the school might not give you as much financial aid as (it would) if you applied regular decision because they know you have to go.

There are some exceptions, of course, if you just cannot afford it.

LaFitte: I applied EA because I wanted to hear my results from colleges early. I applied early to find out if I had to worry about other schools.

Zales: (My story) is a little different because I was recruited (for swimming). For the most part, schools want you to apply ED or EA so they can build their team.

MIT and Harvey Mudd were my top choices, but I knew I was going

to be happy at Harvey Mudd, and I thought I had a better chance of getting in there over MIT. Plus, it’s 100 times warmer.

Q: If you submitted extra materials, what were they?

Zales: I submitted a research portfolio. At MIT, you (use) Slideroom, which is how most portfolios go through. It was another two essays on what your research is, what you’ve been learning from your research and how you’re going to continue doing research at your university.

Then Dr. (Robin) Altman, the professor I’m doing research for, wrote a recommendation to go along with it, and I submitted it along with my application.

Needler: I submitted some music.

One was a recording of the chamber group from last year, which was not the best song choice because it was a chamber group and not just me. But unfortunately, the piece I wanted to submit wasn’t recorded in full, and to re-record I’d have to hire a piano accompanist, and that’s like 80 bucks.

I also like to translate songs, so I sang a song that I translated. I looked on the UChicago website about what to do. Some schools — like Middlebury College — want standard music, but UChicago doesn’t want that. So I wanted to do stuff that they might not find other places.

Q: How do you think attitudes have changed toward applying early, and how will they change in the near future?

Zales: More people will apply early. More people are applying early.

When talking to people who applied 10 years ago, it seems like you only applied early if that was your dream school since you were a little child and you were a third-generation (legacy) at that school.

With more people applying to more colleges, applying early is a way to show that you’re interested. There are way fewer people applying early at most schools than there are applying regular. At Harvey Mudd, there were 217 people who applied early decision versus the 4,000 plus who are going to apply regular.

Rogawski: And college admissions, especially recently, have gotten exponentially more competitive. There’s no way to tell if you’re going to get in.

LISTEN UP! Senior Joe Zales explains his views on the early admission process to junior Larkin Barnard-Bahn (right of Zales) and seniors Alex Rogawski, Chardonnay Needler and Kyra LaFitte. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE CHAO Q: Did you use any websites during or if it’s just me, but I would look up But there was this moment when I logged in at 6 (p.m.), and nothing the application process or while college decision videos on YouTube. you were waiting for the results?

Needler: I didn’t look at the reaction was there. It was like, “Thank you for Needler: Yeah — it becomes an ob- ones, but I looked at some where applying.” And I went, “Oh, my God.” session. It’s really easy to go onto people read aloud their essays of Then I refreshed the page, and I got accepted. And there’s confetti (on the College Confidential and r/applying- what got them into some schools. tocollege (on Reddit) and find tons of This one girl compared oranges page). But there was that moment of articles. Also, r/chanceme (a subred- with nihilism and Nietzsche. It made panic when nothing came up. And then there was that excited (modit in which users post GPAs, SAT/ me feel very dumb.

ACT scores and activities to have an Rogawski: But you shouldn’t care ment), and I was off to swim.

LaFitte: LMU was kind of driving idea if they will get accepted to cer- about somebody else’s essays. me nuts because that was probably tain schools) — don’t go onto that Needler: You’re going against them. one. That makes you feel like abso- Rogawski: But essays are hard to my top one out of all the early action lute crap. compare because you’re talking ones, but I didn’t want to do ED because I was borderline there. I was It’s not healthy, but it’s very ad- about yourself. in the car before the dedictive. Because of the cision came, (complainway that smartphones College admissions, especially re- ing) to my mom about are, you can just keep on it. Then she texted me scrolling. cently, have gotten exponentially after I got back from runZales: But I also feel like more competitive.” ning, saying, “I think you it’s hard to browse be—Alex Rogawski should check the portal. cause you have people It could be any day now.” who are like, “I had a So I checked the porperfect SAT score, and I got rejected.” And then you also have Q: How did you feel when you tal, and an update had literally just people who talk about how they’ve learned you were accepted or de- been released. I opened it, and it had the confetti. I was talking to people, written three books and started their ferred?

Fortune 500 company — that’s sar- Rogawski: Relief. Because I told and I went, “Oh, my God.” They were casm. As you’re applying, that’s hard everybody (that I had applied to like, “What happened?” I was really to look at and be like, “I’m up against Brandeis ED) — everybody knew. So happy. that’s also a big factor. I really want I told a bunch of people, but after these people.”

Chao: And on Reddit, some of the to get in so I can be that person who that day I tried to keep it kind of on the low because there were other posts are pretty relatable. After I got says, “I got in.”

I was stressing about it the week people in my class who had applied deferred by Yale, I went to the Yale thread. There were a lot of acceptanc- before. The entire day, that was the (there). es, of course. There were also a bunch only thing I could think about. Then, Needler: I found out so frickin’ late: Monday (Dec. 17). (UChicago’s of people who got deferred and were to know I got in, I was really excited. sharing their stats. And there are Chao: After I submitted my applica- emails) all go to my spam box, so I people who had really good stats and tion, I (had) a really great interview, don’t get alerts for them. I never got still got deferred or even rejected. It and I felt like I did everything I could the email alert. with my application. So there wasn’t A lot of people were like, “Charoffered me some sort of comfort. really anything that (made me feel) donnay, you’ve got to check it!” I didn’t like, “Oh, God, I wish I had done want to check it at school. I didn’t Q: Did it induce stress? even know that (UChicago) deferred Chao: Yeah, it was stressful when this.”

The decision came out around that many people. I was expecting people were like, “I work at this really elite research program, (and) I 2 o’clock, so I was in math. I felt my either rejection or acceptance, and I published three research papers in phone buzz, and I was like, “Oh, crap had made many bets with different — that’s the email.” I was freaking people between those two conditions Science or Nature.” because I like making bets.

And it’s just like, do I even have a out for the next 20 minutes.

I actually FaceTimed my mom. It I lost my backpack and couldn’t chance? Why am I doing this?

Zales: I went through and looked at was really early, like 6 a.m. in Chi- find my computer, (and) I had wantlast year’s threads of the places I was na. I checked it, and I got deferred. I ed to check it around 2. Eventually I applying to, and I looked at people just hung up immediately because I found my backpack, got my computfelt so bad because I felt like for her er out, ran to the recording studio who got rejected and accepted.

It’s hard to look at other people it was a real disappointment. I just and checked it during physics.

I wanted to call my dad in case I got and know if what they posted is true didn’t want to face her after getting deferred. straight-up rejected because I probaor not, first off. It was stressful.

It isn’t even that big of a deal — it’s bly would’ve cried. I had my dad on Needler: And there’s a lot of humble bragging on these (threads) that real- Yale. They rejected like 30 percent, the phone, and my computer died ly make you feel like s---. Especially so I’m not in that bottom pile. I saw right after (I read the email).

At first I was kind of happy because on the last day that I went on r/apply- that coming, but it was still pretty ingtocollege, which was when I got hard. There’s always part of you that I thought to myself, “Well, a deferral deferred. There were all these peo- will be like, “Oh, maybe I’ll get in. is not a rejection. Deferral means that ple on there saying, “I got in with a Maybe they’ll play me the ‘Bulldog’ there is some possibility next round.”

Then I went home, and I start3.6 (GPA) and a 1460 SAT. I got in ED. song (that is played for accepted stued going to r/applyingtocollege — dents).”

You can do it too!”

When it starts to become a humble Zales: The Harvey Mudd decision which I shouldn’t have done, espebrag that’s like, “I didn’t have amazing came out at 6 p.m. on Dec. 14, and cially because I had a cello lesson extracurriculars, and I didn’t do all swim practice started at 6 p.m. So I later. I saw the immensity of people this,” you’re thinking to yourself, “Are was sitting in a Starbucks in Davis, that got deferred and how (UChicayou leaving out something? Why do using their Wi-Fi. I told the coach I go) barely rejected anyone. They also barely accepted anyone from EA. you have the urge to rub your medi- was going to be 10 minutes late.

I checked the decision, and I got They accepted a lot of people ED. ocre stats in the faces of people who A lot of your friends and teachers felt that they were at least within a accepted. And there was this (feeltarget (range), and they’re (rejected or ing of ), “Yay, I got accepted!” I texted want to encourage you. I sent my esa few people, and then I rushed off says to some people, and they were deferred)?” to practice. Then after practice, I let Zales: It’s not healthy.

COLLEGE page 3 >> Chao: I don’t know if you guys do this, other people know.

The Octagon

January 15, 2019 • News

3

College: Students share regrets, give advice to future applicants (continued from page 2) like, “Oh, my God, yeah. These are so good.” You want to hear it in that moment. But then when the big moment comes, you have that encouragement in the back of your head.

I wasn’t sad for myself because I didn’t get in. I was sad, because I’m like, “People were thinking that I was going to get in, and I let down people.

I let down people that know me.”

And that’s worse than letting yourself down. The more time went on, the more sadness came.

Q: What should people know before applying ED or EA? Zales: Make sure it’s a school you want to go to, especially for ED. LaFitte: I didn’t do ED because there’s no school I really want to go to (above all others). For EA, if you really want to find out (early), then do that. But it’s kind of a long process, so just be prepared to write college essays for hours upon hours.

Zales: Also, the personal statement questions haven’t changed for a while. You should really start that over the summer.

Chao: (Being deferred) was so harsh, so have a friend or someone with you. I didn’t think I would want to check it with anyone else there, but have a support system.

Q: For those of you who were deferred, do you regret applying EA or REA? Needler: I honestly regret not doing ED because I feel like for EA, it’s kind of like you’re applying regular decision in terms of how admissions people look at you.

Chao: I think for UChicago it’s different because they offer ED, and you

chose EA. So that’s kind of showing them you’re not completely committed. Yale didn’t offer ED, but if they had, I wouldn’t have applied (early).

Needler: And I should have spent more time researching colleges, so I could have a school that I wanted to go to above all else.

I knew that I really liked Pomona, but I knew that my dad didn’t want me doing ED (there). And I feel I should have convinced my dad to (let me) apply ED to one of my top schools because it definitely helps.

Chao: I agree. I should have done more research. But I think with Yale, and with a lot of colleges (that offer REA), it’s great that it’s not binding, but it also kind of sucks because you can apply to only one college. Now that I’m cramming, grinding out my supplements for my regular decision colleges, I think I should have either applied just EA or really, really researched more and found a school that I would be happy to go to and applied ED. But EA might have been better than REA (for me). I think (REA is) a good way to show you’re interested, but Yale is definitely not the only school that I would want to go to.

Needler: I thought that the sadness would just kind of strike and then be gone. But it’s more nefarious than that. I have become so unmotivated in all my classes, because it’s like, what’s the point?

Chao: That’s a really big part of it.

Even if you’ve been prepared for it, it will hit you hard.

It’s easy to look back at your application and think about what you have done wrong or like, “Maybe I should have joined this club when I was a sophomore. Maybe I should have started something. Maybe I

should have written a book.” It’s eas- was like, “Why? That’s so ridiculous.” ier said than done, but try not to let But that’s kind of what I’m doing. Esthis control you too much because it pecially with schools that have “Why is in no way a reflection of you as a (do you want to go to this) school?” person (or) as a student. essays. If I can’t come up with a legit Especially this year, a lot of people reason, why am I applying? who I thought would get in got de- Needler: I heard this last year at the ferred. That’s OK because they’re still freshman panel, but then I just didn’t great students and great people. really believe it: If you’re going to Needler: I obsessed (over the inter- do music (supplements), do it in the net) so much. Just don’t. I didn’t find freakin’ summer. Because you do out that much — you not want to be scramcan’t hack into (unibling. verities’) systems.

Chao: At least start You’re eiAlso, I wish I did thinking about what ther going what Alex did. I wish you’re going to talk I had found some to be killing yourabout. There are schools that were self, or you’re gohundreds of thoumiddle tier for myself sands of applicants, ing to be killing and then applied EA, and they’re all writso I wouldn’t be just so your transcripts.” ing those prompts.

—Chardonnay And it’s so easy to just done with everything right now. And I could Needler blend in. Think about just feel like, “OK, you something that’s reknow what? At least ally unique about I’m in somewhere.” yourself. It doesn’t I should have applied early to some guarantee anything, but at least you targets or safeties. will know that you tried your hardRogawski: Apply to schools you est. And you’ll have more fun writing could see yourself at. Every school it anyway.

I applied to, I would have been fine (at). Don’t just apply to a school be- Q: Any other advice for future apcause like, “Oh, well, I have to find a plicants? safety. I’m just going to apply to this Chao: Don’t underestimate your school because it’s easy and they workload (in senior year). It’s going don’t really have any tough essays or to be a lot. I was so naive going in. I there’s no fee.” Apply to a school you was all excited. I was like, “Yeah, let’s could see yourself at, even if it’s not a go! AP Bio, AP English, AP Calc BC, great school.

(Anatomy and) Physiology, AP PhysChao: And don’t apply to schools just ics C!” And right now I’m just like, because everyone else is. It’s a waste “Oh, what am I doing?” of money. It’s a waste of your energy.

I absolutely love every single one You could have used that to write (ap- of (my classes), but also they’re so plications for) other schools. much work. If you want to have a Last year, someone said she elimi- life, really think about (your classnated a lot of colleges based on their es). If you got deferred, they’re going supplemental essays. At that time, I to look at your first-semester grades.

You want those to look pretty.

Needler: You’re either going to be killing yourself, or you’re going to be killing your transcripts.

Rogawski: Try not to stress. You’re going to go somewhere. At the end of your four years at college, it’s what you make of that experience.

Chao: Honestly, don’t feel pressure to tell anyone where you applied.

It’s none of their business. The most horrible part about getting deferred is having to tell all those people.

Needler: Amen.

Chao: For juniors: No matter how much you prepare, (rejection or deferral) is still going to come as a shock. It’s going to be hard.

Needler: Or if you’re even (accepted).

There’s a type of acceptance guilt that some people feel if (they’re accepted and someone else isn’t). Don’t doubt yourself and think that it’s easy if you get in, either. Even if you’re accepted, that doesn’t mean that emotionally you’re going to be chill during this situation because then you’re going to be trying to support other people.

Rogawski: Be sensitive to your classmates.

Needler: And be sensitive to yourself.

Don’t be too harsh on yourself.

Chao: If you apply to the same school as someone else, and they got in and you didn’t, don’t go around thinking, “Oh, my God, this guy totally does not deserve this.” Don’t be salty, and don’t be too harsh on yourself.

You really don’t know what (colleges are) looking for because they’re trying to build a class. This is what (senior) Mohini (Rye) told me: If I had applied a different year, I might have gotten in.

Rogawski: It’s so competitive these days that you really don’t know. It’s impossible to tell.

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4

Sports • January 15, 2019

The Octagon

Boys, girls basketball teams struggle with drop in participation

C

ountry Day’s basketball program took a hit this season, with fallen participation on both teams.

BY ANNA FRANKEL

from basketball.”

Junior Jewel Turner, who has played on the girls basketball team for the past two seasons, decided not to participate this season. She said her involvement in club volleyball is a big commitment, and as a result, she does not have the time to play basketball.

However, Vargo said one benefit to this year’s situation is none of the boys are graduating.

Junior shooting guard Jackson Crawford agreed.

“Last year’s team improved over the years they played together,” Crawford said.

Crawford said the team is — in a way — starting over this season. The Cavaliers were 3-6 as of Jan. 8.

“We’re trying to win,” Crawford said.

“But at the same time, this is a growing year for us. Even if we don’t add any players to the team next year, we will at least have a team of

The boys team has gone from 12 players last season to a record low of seven.

The girls team’s loss was also substantial; its number of players decreased from 14 last season to eight.

DRIBBLING DRILLS Sophomore Anna Fluetsch, freshman Vivian Conner, sophomore Joanne Tsai, senior Heidi According to athletic director Johnson, sophomore Lindsay Burback and freshman Daisy Zhou practice dribbling in a wall-sit position. These Matt Vargo, a high number of gradusix girls represented 75 percent of the team. PHOTO BY ALLISON ZHANG ates was a prime factor in the smaller rosters. in our short practices,” Pitts said. end.” the team’s small size affects practices Five of last year’s boys and six of “They also have to be willing to put Pitts agreed, saying the girls’ as well. last year’s girls graduated. in the time outside of our games and stamina is “always being stretched.”

With only seven players, the team “I knew that the teams would take practices.

“We have one of the smallest can’t scrimmage five-on-five. a hit,” Vargo said.

“It’s a season of growth for them teams in our league,” Pitts said. “(So) Crawford said the changes the “There are just not as many basand me.” not having the numbers to substi- team has faced this season have seketball players on campus. In a Crawford said the boys team is al- tute and get players the breaks they riously affected its performance. small student body, one or two playready improving because everyone need is hard.”

“We’ve already lost more games ers make a big difference.” is playing extensively in both games Boys coach David Ancrum agreed this year than we did all last season,” Another factor is the lack of freshand practice. It helps that the team’s small size has put Crawford said. “Coach Ancrum unman players. According that every player has at- them into “positions where they derstands the situation. He was to Vargo, most of last tended most games, he need to produce.” more demanding and had higher Most of the players on the team year’s eighth-grade playadded.

“They are learning as they go,” expectations for us last year. now have only played for one or ers left Country Day. “Nobody’s used to Ancrum said.

“All of last year’s seniors had He added that this two years. Experience makes a big differ- playing this much,” Sophomore guard played for four years. year’s ninth graders have ence.”

Crawford said.

Avinash Krishna, who Most of the players participated in sports But Crawford, who is playing significanton the team now —Jackson Crawford It’s hard less than other freshoften plays the whole ly more this season have only played for to push men have. game this season, said than he did last, said one or two years. ExAs a result, this year’s he is not complaining. the increased playing through to the perience makes a big boys team consists solely of sopho- seven players, all with a year’s worth “It’s a fun challenge,” Crawford time is a huge bonus. difference.” end of the game mores and juniors. of experience together.” said.

“Last season, I when our oppoBut Crawford said Vargo said the small girls team, Point guard Heidi Johnson, one “I can play a lot more freely be- mainly played at he is confident the nents are able to unlike the boys’, is not due to just of two seniors on this season’s girls cause I don’t have to worry about practice,” Krishna team will continue to the loss of seniors. team that was 1-2 entering winter making mistakes. I know the coach said. “But you need constantly substiimprove.

“A couple girls decided not to play break, agreed with Crawford. isn’t going to pull me out of the time in games to actu- tute.”

Senior guard because they are focusing on other “We have a lot of new players,” game right away.” ally get better.

—Heidi Johnson Brandy Riziki, a firstthings, like school or volleyball,” Johnson said. “So right now we’re Johnson said the small size of the “Now everybody is time player on the Vargo said. having to teach the fundamentals: girls team has caused difficulties, taking on a much biggirls team, agreed He said this could be due to a gen- rules, strategies, different plays and however. ger role, and the new with Crawford. eral decrease in popularity of girls how to shoot and dribble.

“It’s hard to push through to the dynamic is taking time to adjust to.”

“It’s awesome to see that we are basketball throughout schools.

“In the past we’ve been able to end of the game when our oppoKrishna said that thanks to the improving together,” Riziki said.

“Three schools we play dropped start off the season working on more nents are able to constantly substi- playing time, the team is doing far “(Some players) are building on their girls basketball program this advanced plays.” tute,” Johnson said. better now than it was at the begin- previous knowledge, and others are Girls coach Latonia Pitts agreed. year,” Vargo said. “Over the years, “But we’ve been doing a pretty ning of the season. beginners.

“We can only cover so much club volleyball has pulled girls away good job of sticking it out until the However, according to Crawford, “The teamwork is the (best) part.”

GIVE ME A BREAK Junior Chris Wilson, sophomore Martin Cao, junior Aaron Graves, sophomore Avinash Krishna, juniors Jackson Crawford and Ted Zhou and sophomore Max Wu pose at basketball practice on Jan. 9. According to shooting guard Crawford, the boys were practicing press breaks for a game against Western Sierra Collegiate Academy on Jan. 10. PHOTO BY ALLISON ZHANG

The Octagon

January 15, 2019 • Sports

Despite slow start, girls team ‘staying positive’

W

BY ARIKTA TRIVEDI

ith eight players and only one win, the girls basketball team has faced many struggles this season.

The girls are 1-6 with an average of 31.6 points per game and 23.6 rebounds per game. Senior Heidi Johnson leads the Cavaliers with 22 points per game.

The team has only three returning players, making communication one of their biggest issues, according to coach Latonia Pitts.

The girls’ spirits, however, have remained strong throughout the season.

“The girls have individually done things well, but the best (part is that they are) staying positive and willing to push each other to improve,” she said. “We lost a lot of athletic and experienced players from last season, but this is one of the most positive teams I have ever coached.”

But the team can improve in many areas, according to Johnson.

“We can definitely improve on ball movement and defense in general, such as boxing out and rebounding,” she said.

Sophomore Anna Fluetsch agreed the

team can improve overall.

“We need to work on not panicking when we get the ball, passing better, not taking shots that we know we can’t make and taking shots we should be able to make,” she said.

The team’s biggest strengths are its work ethic and desire, according to many players.

“Our best game was (a 54-38 victory over) Encina before break because we improved a lot and were starting to move the ball more,” Johnson said.

Sophomore Lindsay Burback added that the team’s passing, spacing and communication throughout that game helped them reach their first victory of the season.

Their worst game, Pitts said, was a 61-18 loss at Sacramento Adventist on Jan. 5.

“We had only five players, and coming off of break was a rough transition,” Pitts said. “If you don’t have numbers to sub, that makes it hard on the players. We were just tired.”

Johnson agreed.

“Our heads weren’t in it,” she said. “We were acting and thinking slowly.”

Despite the slow start, the players said they are looking forward to ending the season with a few more wins and more improvement.

“My expectations are just more improvement and hard work as the season progresses,” Johnson said.

752 total points 22.0 scoring average this season

5

Small numbers, bad communication cause rough games for boys basketball

BY ARIJIT TRIVEDI

have a loud person on the team.”

However, according to Zhou, the team has grown more confident and has started to communicate more over the past couple of weeks.

The team has also struggled with running plays

However, according to Crawford, the team is improvAs of Jan. 8, the boys basing through experience. ketball team was 3-6. The “We aren’t where we want seven-player team was avto be,” he said. “It is only the eraging 46.5 points and 31 beginning of our league searebounds per game. Their son, so we’re definitely going field-goal percentage was 38 to improve more.” percent, and they had scored According to coach David 279 points, Ancrum, the according to team needs MaxPreps. to improve its We aren’t where we want to be. It J u n i o r is only the beginning of our league ballhandling point guard and reboundTed Zhou led season, so we’re definitely going to iming.

Junior the team with prove more.” small forward 17.7 points —Jackson Crawford Chris Wilson per game (106 agreed. points over“We should all). during games since there are be driving to the basket more, At the start of the season, only seven players. and we need to make better the team struggled with com“We need at least ten peo- passes,” Wilson said. munication. ple so we can run five-onCrawford added that this “It was just me talking the five (scrimmages and plays),” has been a hard season, but whole time in the beginning,” Zhou said. he is optimistic.

Zhou said. “The team was “The team knows the plays “This is, in some ways, a dead silent.” like the back of their hands, learning year because all of Junior shooting guard Jack- but when we play in a real (the juniors) will be seniors son Crawford agreed. game, we mess up. That’s why next year,” he said.

“We definitely need to talk we need more people so the “So whatever we can do more during games,” Craw- defense is similar to a real this year will help us next ford said. “We don’t really game.” year.”

58 games played in four seasons

64 percent shooting this season

Stats according to MaxPreps

SHOOT FOR THE STARS Senior Heidi Johnson leads the Cavaliers in scoring.

PHOTO BY ELISE SOMMERHAUG

mm

ON THE OFFENSIVE Juniors Chris Wilson and Aaron Graves and sophomore Max Wu surround a player from Alexander Twilight on Nov. 27. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE CHAO

Sports Boosters’ Athletes of the Month Heidi Johnson, basketball Heidi has become quite a leader. Heidi has jumped right into her leadership role on and off the court. She has a lot of responsibilities on the team, and as she grows she pulls her teammates to grow with her. I love how positive she is and how she is always ready to enlighten teamates.

Ted Zhou, basketball Ted has been working hard all summer. Last year, he didn’t play too much at all. But this year he has to play all of a sudden, and he’s really prepared himself. He worked on his body, he comes earlier to practice, he stays late, and he comes on the weekend.

For information, please see SCDS homepage under the Quicklink “Parents.”

Paid for by our generous Sports Boosters. Comments by girls coach Latonia Pitts and boys coach David Ancrum.

6

Centerpoint

The Oc

ETHNIC STU

(continued from page 1)

focuses on stories and journeys to California through reading “The Grapes of Wrath” by John -long course,” Kuipers said.

Steinbeck, “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario But he also mentioned the difficulty behind and “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan. finding a teacher. “(These are) different tales that represent the “To present (the course) well and authenti- phrase ‘windows and mirrors,’ so you as a stucally requires a certain skill set,” he said. “And dent have something that is similar to your story, if we are able to adopt it, it’s something that’s and you also get to see something that is similar important to roll out well the first to your friend,” Wells said. time. High school students can be Foehl, who is in his first year of a tough audience — they’re not teaching U.S. History, also noted The plan is always the most patient in someto continue the importance of diversity in his thing new, and there’s always curriculum. to make our curgoing to be bumps, but if (the “Race and ethnicity are at the course) didn’t roll out well, stu- rent curriculum as core of the American experident opinion could turn against it. widely inclusive as ence,” Foehl said. “I have an adIt’s better to be patient rather than possible.” vantage in teaching a course that rush into something.”

—Brooke Wells would be impossible to do withWells added that, although out ethnic studies — it’s at the Country Day has no ethnic studcore of the class.” ies course, the history and EnCrabb also said that in his glish classes cover a wide range of texts. sophomore World Cultures class, students have “(A class) is a great idea, but it might not be the opportunity to choose what to learn based the exact direction the faculty have in mind,” on their own interests.

Wells said.

After teaching the “core historical moments,” Instead, he mentioned having a curriculum Crabb said he gives students an open-ended topthat focuses on “windows and mirrors” — a phi- ic and allows them to choose what they specifilosophy for a student to view the experiences cally want to study. and identities of others while also reflecting on “I have students learning about a wide range the student’s own culture and identity. of topics,” he said. “We talked about imperial“The plan is to continue to make our current curriculum as widely inclusive as possible,” Wells said.

He cited his 10th-grade English class, which now

ism; now we’re talking about what happens next — how people are revolting or changing ideas — and we have groups doing Mexico’s independence, the revolution in China, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union and movements in Cuba.”

Similarly, later on when students are learning about World War I and II, Crabb plans to give a general overview and then let students pick specific countries to focus on. “(That way), students can study something they’re passionate about and make the curriculum their own,” Crabb said.

When English teacher Jane Bauman taught freshmen, students could also follow their own interests through the memoir project.

Students chose one of five memoirs, all written by women. A few include: a Japanese-American from Seattle who was relocated to an internment camp during World War II, a member of the Little Rock Nine and a 12-year-old girl who lived through the China’s Cultural Revolution.

“The ninth-grade curriculum was pretty white-male-centric, and it needed greater balance,” Bauman said. “We had two dystopian works, ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘Lord of the Flies.’

These might seem like theoretical concepts, but in fact, they have real-life applications. And what better way than to choose books about specific, true historical events where civil rights were repressed?”

Even though Bauman has moved on to teach AP English Language and Composition and English 11, Hinojosa still uses one of the memoirs, “Warriors Don’t Cry” by Melba Pattillo Beals, in his freshman English classes.

Last year, Bauman added “The Marrow of Tradition”

by Charles W. Chesnutt, which is set in the run-up to the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, to her junior English classes at the suggestion of former history teacher Damany Fisher.

“The story is wonderful literature, and it’s rhetor-

ically complex and about 200 pages long — meets all my requirements,” Bauman said. “Students really enjoyed reading it; the response was excellent.”

Bauman also mentioned the difficulty in choosing books for her classes.

“It’s very difficult to choose books that are worth reading, that students want to read and that are diverse,” she said.

Hinojosa’s 12th-grade English classes — in which the books cover a “wider range than three years ago,” according to Wells — were another of Wells’ examples of minority representation in Country Day’s curriculum.

In the class, seniors read “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, a black, female author; “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” by Sherman Alexie, a Native American who grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation; “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys, who was born on the Caribbean island of Dominica; “The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi, a French-Iranian author; and “The Laramie Project” by Moisés Kaufman, a Jewish, Venezuelan playwright who wrote about the murder of a gay student at the University of Wyoming.

“It’s about picking books by people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, and that’s the start of expanding the curriculum,” Hinojosa said.

And through those books, he said he is able to weave the themes of marginalization and identity into his course.

“If you put those topics in the front of the conversation, a lot follows from that,” Hinojosa said. “(But) if you put something more philosophical or more dominant-culture-oriented at the front, then it’s harder to insert something like a conversation about non-majority populations.”

On the other hand, his ninth-grade English class is still a “far more traditional course,” he said.

“I like the ninth-grade curriculum, but it’s a little old-fashioned for me, and I think it can pop a little more. (We’re reading) books that I was taught, books that maybe my dad was taught as a ninth grader. ‘Lord of the Flies,’ ‘Animal Farm’

GRAPHICS B

Proposals: Current seniors unlikely to pursue ideas for change

(continued from page 1) “It was pretty obvious that it wasn’t really going to go any further from there, so I just kind of dropped it,” Lacombe said.

But the idea is still popular with students. In a Dec. 18 Octagon poll of 130 students, 33 percent said only juniors and seniors should be allowed to leave campus by themselves during their long free period, lunch or elective, and 65 percent said all students should be able to go.

Meanwhile, fifty-eight percent of students said juniors and seniors should be able to leave campus at any time, and 28 percent said that all students should be able to do so.

Junior Darius Shabazi said all students should be able to leave because it teaches them independence and survival skills.

“When you go to college, you’re not going to be asking your parents, ‘Can I go to the movies with friends?’” Shabazi said.

Fels agreed, but said the policy should apply only to upperclassmen.

“They’re close to really living on their own,” she said.

Freshman Jesus Aispuro said leaving campus is a good opportunity to relax but added, “Parents should be informed that their child is leaving; they just shouldn’t need their permission to go.”

But some students favor the current policy.

“Parents should know where you are, because (students are) minors, and the crosswalk (on Munroe) can be very dangerous,” junior Emme Bogetich said.

Junior Maddie Woo agreed.

“Safety is more important than want,” she said.

Meanwhile, Christian wrote his proposal on student press freedom.

Under the 1988 Supreme Court case Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, a public school administrator can censor an article only if it is “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.”

But in private schools, administrators can legally censor any article, as no First Amendment protections exist.

As head of school, Lee Thomsen holds power to censor the Octagon.

Christian argued that this is a problem cause when making decisions, Thomsen w always have the school’s image and busin interests in mind, which can conflict with t Octagon’s interests.

To resolve this issue, Christian wrote th the school should create an independ board that would represent the differing sid of the community.

The board would be comprised of o member each from the Board of Trustees, f ulty, staff, administration, teachers, studen parents and alumni.

This group of eight would create a reaso able set of rules and guidelines for the Oc gon and administration to follow.

An article would be allowed to be censor only if it contained material that was obsce to minors, libelous or severely disruptive school activities.

According to Christian, three instances censorship spurred his essay. They concern the former school photographer, the scho international student program and the dea of pre-K teaching assistant Ariyana Jones.

January 15, 2019

ctagon

UDIES? — they are extraordinary books, but I don’t know if we need to keep talking about them.”

However, with regards to his senior class, Hinojosa said that to add books with different perspectives would require him to drop other books.

“It’s back to the opportunity cost,” he said. “To add something, you have to take something out — something’s got to give. Our school has a lot of opportunities to do better, but there’s a logistical reality that’s a challenge.”

Kuipers also added that within a class, each student’s experience with the curriculum differs.

“But at the same time, I feel very comfortable with the history curriculum that exists,” he said.

“It’s a cohesive, global curriculum that isn’t perfect, but it includes the stories of many peoples of across the world.”

In Nellis’ freshman Comparative World Cultures class, the first semester focuses on western civilizations, and the second semester on the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Africa.

As part of their study, students read “Through African Eyes” by Leon E. Clark, which is about the ancient kingdoms of Africa, the African colonial experience and the struggle to regain freedom from Europeans.

“I use it because that’s the voice of the people,” Nellis said. “Ethnic studies consists of a lot of voices — as much first-person history as possible to get away from outside interpretation. But the unfortunate part is many indigenous groups have been overrun, so some of those voices have been lost. But ‘Through African Eyes’ does give the voices of Africans — certainly those in the 19th and 20th centuries.”

Regarding her AP U.S. History class, Nellis said the curriculum has “changed tremendously” in the last 15 to 20 years to include more about the perspectives of minorities in the U.S. The nature of an AP course, however, limits what Nellis can include in her curriculum.

“We’re always re-evaluating and trying to figure out the best way to teach something,” she said. “But there’s way too much to teach, so those choices had changed over time and will probably continue to change.

“It’s important to recognize the different viewpoints, but I can’t do that for every single event.

But I try to do it in some of the bigger events.”

For instance, this year Nellis has expanded on a project about westward expansion by adding Chinese immigrant and Mexican-American perspectives as new topics for students to study.

However, junior Alyssa Valverde said that the

project did not go into as much detail as she new teachers and changed curriculum, many of would have liked. the specific missing topics she found may have “It was still kind of broad — even trying to now been added. do research (resulted in) mainly the stuff in “The curriculum has changed a lot, but it’s the book, which was focusing in on the U.S.,” wrong to say, ‘Look, we’ve come this far, so we’re Alyssa Valverde said. “I was trying to find stuff done now,’” Alvarado said. on Mexican-Americans, and it touches base on Nina Dym, ’18, agreed that merely expanding them, but it’s U.S. history; we’re not focusing in on current classes wasn’t enough. on Mexico.”

“They’re not hitting the problem head on,” However, English and history classes aren’t Dym said. “I don’t see why they couldn’t incorthe only classes incorporating diverse perspec- porate a whole class, or even more than one. tives into the curriculum.

“One thing in college you face is meeting peo“While the history of biological discoveries ple who don’t look like you and don’t have the often involves white male scientists, that is cer- same background as you. tainly not the case for modern-day biology,” “And to diversify Country Day’s students and Whited said. really prepare them for college, having a class And in Whited’s AP Biology class, students that can teach about diversity and inclusion read “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” would be important.”

by Rebecca Skloot, which is about a poor black Alvarado added that one of the points in her woman whose cells were taken without her proposal was that students weren’t ready to enknowledge in 1951. counter the diversity in colleges.

“The book discusses the ethical obligation “We aren’t being prepared for dealing with that scientists and physicians have to treat their people who are different than we are,” she said. patients as a human and not just a diagnosis,” “Country Day is a fantastic college-prep school, Whited said. but we are severely depriving our students of re“It provides us the opportunity to discuss the alistic expectations in college.” discrepancy of medical care given to different Dym added that at Northwestern University, ethnicities throughout history. The immea- where she is a freshman, many of the discussurable good that has come from the cell line sions she is having are “eye opening.” created from “A lot of what Henrietta’s cells I learned is from is dirtied by the people around I never really got to learn anything unethical way in about the Chicano Movement, the me, and there’s which her cells a lot of convereast LA walkouts or anything that felt perwere obtained.” sations about Even with the sonal to me.” diversity and —Yanele Ledesma inclusion,” Dym incorporation of diversity to said. certain classes, “I’ve always however, many students felt more could — and been interested (in ethnic studies), but it was esshould — be done. pecially when I got to college that I figured out Ledesma said that although she could relate that there’s so much more that I want to learn.” to themes and ideas in her U.S. History class last And Bruce-Romo, who is majoring in Chiyear, which wasn’t taught by Foehl, the curric- cana/o Latina/o Studies (CLST) at Loyola Maryulum didn’t include anything directly related to mount University (LMU), is required to take at Mexican-Americans. least one Studies in American Diversity course, “I never really got to learn anything about the which she said is essentially an ethnic studies Chicano Movement, the east LA walkouts or course. anything that felt personal to me,” she said. “We “My first semester, I took the Introduction to mainly focused on a few topics — early America CLST course, and that class was my favorite,” and slavery — and then, because of lack of time, she said. “It was everything I dreamed of and skipped right over to Japanese-American experi- more. The course went from colonization up ences in incarceration camps.” until today to explain the development of Latin However, Alvarado conceded that with the America.”

She added that even though the course was

BY EMMA BOERSMA AND LARKIN BARNARD-BAHN intended for CLST majors, it still covered the histories of black, Asian and Native American people.

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Thomsen said he was given the essay at a meeting; then, Christian said he reached out to Thomsen to arrange a meeting with the editors-in-chief to discuss his proposal.

They ultimately had two meetings — during which the other four editors-in-chiefs, head of high school Brooke Wells and former adviser Emily Eustace were present — in May. Christian said they didn’t discuss the proposal much; the parties had more of a conversation about the future of the Octagon and how relations can improve.

“We never really delved into the ins and outs about the board, my proposed censorship agreement or exactly what my proposal said,” Christian said.

Christian said that for the rest of the school year, he never heard anything; although another meeting was planned, it fell through.

By summer, Christian said the editors-in-chief decided they should try to have another meeting. That’s when they received an email from Tim Grieve, then the vice president of news for The McClatchy Co. and a former Octagon editor-in-chief.

Grieve was one of Christian’s sources for his proposal essay, and according to Christian, Grieve wanted Christian to keep him updated.

Thus, Christian talked to him at the end of the year to say little progress had been made regarding the proposal.

Furthermore, on June 1, 2018, independently from Christian’s proposal, former editors and allies of the Octagon emailed the Board of Trustees.

The letter discussed the importance of the Octagon and its impact on the community, according to Christian, and asked the board to consider the paper as a more valued organization that should be funded adequately and have autonomy from the administration.

In response, Thomsen wrote on June 11, 2018, that “the administration has not directed, nor will we direct, any change in The Octagon’s long-standing editorial policy.”

The presence of some editorial control reflects that the reporters are minors “who are learning and growing in their judgment,” Thomsen said.

Thomsen added that the Octagon should

avoid publishing material that is harmful to the school or members of the school community, and that it is appropriate for an adult to serve that role.

In a July 5 email to Wells, incoming editors-in-chief Christian, Lacombe, Allison Zhang, Mohini Rye and Chardonnay Needler and Eustace, Thomsen said the school has no plans to change the wording of the Octagon’s editorial statement.

Still, Christian said his general feeling after that email was that “things would be OK” and that Eustace would act as an “intermediary” between the students and the administration.

“But in a sense, that wasn’t a solution that we wanted,” Christian said. “We wanted a solution that would last for a long time — a solution that was in writing — because currently we deal with each incident as it comes up.

“We wanted clarity, so there’s more of a protocol instead of us being so blindsided sometimes.”

However, Thomsen said that each of the situations in which the Octagon was censored

7

“That class constantly made me realize how much information I had been missing out on throughout my education,” she said.

Carlos Nunez, ’18, is also taking a course at Santa Clara University about the Californian experience, in which he said he learns about people’s stories.

“In this paper I wrote about the Mexican Repatriation, I ended up learning a lot about the topic, and I felt a lot more connected than I had in the past to Mexican-American history,” Nunez said.

On the other hand, Galindo, a sophomore at Ibero-American University in Mexico City, said he has not taken a specific ethnic studies course.

“But people are generally very talkative about these issues in almost any class, especially the ones that are more philosophical,” he said.

However, Kaeleigh Valverde, who attends Mills College — a women’s college in Oakland — has had a less welcoming experience. She said she noticed “a lack of understanding and sensitivity” there, partially due to a social divide among students.

“There seems to be a very direct split between people who are typically white, upper-class and paying full tuition versus minorities who are on scholarship,” she said.

Some professors add to the problem, Kaeleigh Valverde said.

“I’m at an all-girls school with a large percentage of people who identify as minorities, and I heard stories of people being in class with a teacher — who was a white male — and he was saying misogynistic and vaguely racist things to (students’) faces,” Kaeleigh Valverde said.

“I wouldn’t want Country Day to turn into something like that, where you feel attacked in the classroom and can’t say anything because there’s such a large divide and such a huge issue.”

Alvarado agreed that diversity and compassion in teachers, as well as students, is important.

“There’s a validation in seeing someone of color who’s an expert in the field teaching or mentoring you,” Alvarado said.

In addition to the efforts of many colleges to incorporate ethnic studies courses, many high schools have embraced diversifying their curricula.

For instance, Foehl and Alvarado cited the Urban School of San Francisco, where freshmen take a six-week course called Identity and Ethnic Studies. In the course, students “explore their identity and culture, as well as examine historical factors that shape social constructions such as race, ethnicity, nationality and class,” according to the Urban School’s website.

was so complicated and nuanced that it would be difficult to create a policy.

Christian said he doubts he will pursue the matter.

“I think that we’re kind of at a good point with everything that’s happening,” he said.

“We haven’t really had any problems, and we’re working well with the administration and (adviser Paul) Bauman.”

However, Thomsen said that because of the “instability” in the adviser position, he might have a conversation about Christian’s ideas.

“I can imagine from the newspaper’s point of view there may be more of a desire to keep the discussion going,” Thomsen said.

And Fels said installing a board could greatly benefit the paper and its adviser.

“The wide variety of people that was proposed to be on that board would have been great because they would have given me opinions that weren’t just (those of ) the newspaper staff and the headmaster,” she said.

Now, Fels said, a board would have also benefited a new adviser like Bauman.

8

Opinion • January 15, 2019

OCTAGON STAFF

The Octagon

“Extra Space” by Emma Boersma

My Angle

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

BY JACKSON CRAWFORD

Jack Christian Mehdi Lacombe Chardonnay Needler Mohini Rye Allison Zhang

To gift or not to gift — that is the question

NEWS EDITORS Jack Christian Allison Zhang

SPORTS EDITORS Jack Christian Allison Zhang

FEATURE EDITOR

Chardonnay Needler

A&E EDITOR

Mehdi Lacombe

OPINION EDITOR Mohini Rye

BUSINESS MANAGER Larkin Barnard-Bahn

PAGE EDITORS

Larkin Barnard-Bahn Jack Christian Anna Frankel Mehdi Lacombe Jackson Margolis Chardonnay Needler Mohini Rye Sarina Rye Héloïse Schep Allison Zhang

REPORTERS

Sanjana Anand Arjin Claire Jackson Crawford Dylan Margolis Ethan Monasa Miles Morrow Arijit Trivedi Arikta Trivedi

GRAPHIC ARTISTS Emma Boersma Jacqueline Chao Mohini Rye

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Mehdi Lacombe

PHOTO EDITOR

Jacqueline Chao

PHOTOGRAPHERS Jacqueline Chao Elise Sommerhaug Shimin Zhang

MULTIMEDIA STAFF

Harrison Moon, editor David Situ, assistant Ming Zhu, staffer

ADVISER

Paul Bauman The Octagon is Sacramento Country Day School’s student-run high school newspaper. Its purpose is to provide reliable information on events concerning the high school and to inform and entertain the entire school community. The staff strives for accuracy and objectivity.

The Octagon aims to always represent both sides of an issue. Errors in stories will be noted and corrected.

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EDITORIAL: Diversification of classes good start but not enough

T

he debate over an ethnic studies class is seemingly at a standstill. While students have expressed interest in such a course, the logistics — teacher choice, scheduling and funding — don’t work out right now, according to the administration.

Another nuanced barrier to senior Gabi Alvarado’s ethnic studies proposal is the addition of new classes and curricula this year. For example, sophomore World Cultures teacher Bill Crabb allows his students to pick topics of interest through open-ended projects, and English teacher Brooke Wells includes books with diverse perspectives in his sophomore class.

Wells cited the widening range of texts in history and English classes as further examples of attention to ethnic studies woven into the curriculum.

It’s true — ethnic studies is slowly being integrated into classes. But because of said integration and the recent changes in teachers, pinpointing weak spots in Country Day’s coverage of ethnic studies is difficult.

Until classes and instructors are settled, the creation of an ethnic studies course will likely continue to be an uphill battle.

Furthermore, while we welcome weaving ethnic history into current classes, at some point, integration isn’t enough.

The argument shouldn’t be that the curriculum is already becoming suitably diverse and “widely inclusive” — rather, it should be that there’s still room for pivotal change.

A multi-week ethnic studies seminar in history class sophomore year could be that change.

It’s not a full-length ethnic studies course, but it’s a step toward formulating one and a way to gauge how students will respond to future suggestions.

Additionally, history teacher Chris Kuipers noted one caveat with Alvarado’s ethnic studies proposal: Her vision is a “sociology class.” But he said social studies itself is still a good idea.

The problem is that most students wouldn’t know what such a course would entail, which could keep them from trying it.

Students first need to gain exposure as to what kind of course they’d be signing up for.

And while the recent changes in teachers and curricula are a barrier to creating a full course, they could actually be beneficial for creating a seminar.

Due to switch-ups, course content isn’t set for several classes, namely Crabb’s World Cultures and history teacher Tucker Foehl’s U.S. History.

Such malleability is rare; the school should take advantage by creating a seminar, a potential step toward a full class.

Country Day wouldn’t be the first school to do so — the Urban School of San Francisco has a six-week identity and ethnic studies course as part of its service-learning curriculum.

Here, though, the goal of the seminar would be to give exposure without overloading students or a teacher, as well as measure potential interest in an ethnic studies class without waiting years to make it happen.

Even a two- or three-week seminar could help. If held near the end of the year, the seminar could delve into California’s various racial and ethnic groups as an introduction to U.S. History.

Alternatively, if the idea is geared too much toward sociology, the seminar could work equally well during the beginning of the year in Wells’ English class, as it already focuses on American journeys.

Ultimately, an ethnic studies class needn’t be all or nothing.

The seminar, while not a full-year

investment, would allow time to schedule a future ethnic studies class and find a teacher.

Ultimately, students want more than just bringing ethnicity, race and nationality into class conversations; that will never be the same as a designated ethnic studies course.

And while Country Day is small, there’s a growing need for full ethnic studies courses here and in California as a whole.

For one, alumni, particularly the class of ’18, have repeatedly noted the importance college ethnic studies courses. Esme Bruce-Romo, ’18, said her Chicana/o Latina/o Studies class at Loyola Marymount University made her realize how much information she’d been missing throughout her education.

Second, at a national level, ethnic studies is becoming more important. Studies show it can lead to increased academic success; the National Education Association, for example, found “considerable research evidence that well-designed and welltaught ethnic studies curricula have positive academic and social outcomes for students.”

Oregon and Indiana have even passed laws requiring students in public schools to take ethnic studies. A similar bill in California, AB 2772, was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown in September to avoid adding more graduation requirements for students, but Brown said he still “(recognized) the value of these courses.” Before the veto, the State Assembly approved the bill with a bipartisan 54-19 vote, showing sizable support for ethnic studies in high school.

All students can benefit from ethnic studies, regardless of race or how much they’ve indirectly learned through other classes. So why not move toward an ethnic studies class before other California schools?

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS FOR KEEPING US IN THE BLACK! Anand family, anonymous, Bahn Management Company, Christian family, Frankel family, Impact Venture Capital, Lacombe family, Monasa family, Needler family, Schep-Smit family, Situ family, Zhang family

’Twas the season of giving not long ago. Family members all over the country made their way into living rooms to celebrate the holidays with loved ones and relax by the fire with a warm cup of eggnog.

For many, however, the days leading up to Christmas were chaotic and filled with last-minute shopping; the procrastinators of the world came out to make their final purchases just in the St. Nick of time. I, for one, had to throw together my Secret Santa gift the night before the class exchange, despite the two weeks’ notice.

Sorry, Yumi. Hope you still liked the candy.

I’ve always struggled with gift giving — for birthdays, holidays or anniversaries, I can never find the right gift. Naturally, the bad gift givers in the world, myself included, fall back on reliable but boring gifts. But here’s my question: Why is gift giving so hard for some people yet so easy for others?

Let’s delve deeper.

To start, some people are “people” people. These are the family members and friends who will hug everyone and chat their ear off for the next hour. Others — especially teenagers — will keep their comfortable, yet uncomfortable, five feet of distance and awkwardly make small talk before escaping to the restroom.

Oddly enough, gift giving is similar. Some people are great gift givers because they aren’t afraid to take the risk of an awkward exchange; they understand people and, more often than not, select the right gift for the right person.

On the other hand, bad gift givers tend to fall back on the three C’s that take no creativity: candy, cards and cash.

Although receiving a thoughtful gift gone awry isn’t the greatest, at least it shows some creativity. The butterfly hatching kit that I received as a sporty tween boy checks that box. Similarly, the San Diego Chargers gear I received five years ago — three sizes too big at the time, mind you — won’t be forgotten because I can still wear it now! I’ll always appreciate someone willing to be creative, even if the result isn’t always successful.

The problem with taking that risk is that some people are satisfied with just candy and gift cards, which can translate to a meaningless cycle of gifts with little to no thought. Even if the giver tries to purchase or create the “perfect gift” for that special someone, there is still the fear of disappointment. In fact, speaking for us bad gift givers, sometimes we’ll be so indecisive that we give nothing.

This is especially unfortunate for the great gift givers of the world who consistently give thoughtful gifts but receive thoughtless ones.

Often, I’ve noticed that people who give the best gifts do so because it is how they show and receive affection; psychologically, they feel the most loved when they receive a gift that took a lot of effort rather than money.

That said, gifts needn’t make or break the holidays. As the saying goes, it’s not what’s under the tree — it’s who’s around it.

The memories that stick with me aren’t of gifts I received but of moments I’ve shared with loved ones — wearing my oversized San Diego Chargers gear.

The Octagon

January 15, 2019 • A&E

9

Seniors make 15-drink haul at Dutch Bros coffee chain

I

f you asked me what my favorite coffee shop is, I’d promptly reply Dutch Bros. But in the three years I’ve gone, I’ve never had coffee.

Dutch Bros is a privately owned drive-thru coffee chain in only seven states that offers coffees, sodas (a Dutch Bros canned, flavorless soda),

frosts (essentially a flavored milkshake), rebels (a Dutch Bros-branded energy drink), smoothies, freezes (blended coffees) and lemonades.

When you pull up to the drive-thru, you’re met with a menu filled with these types of drinks — but no flavors.

You’re expected to know the flavor

you want ahead of time — look up the combinations and flavors online, create your own drink or simply ask a friend who’s a regular, like me.

My go-to is a large, extra-thick, hand-blended James Dean Rebel. A James Dean consists of equal parts strawberry, peach and coconut.

“It was shocking,” Lia said. “At first I thought I didn’t like it, but the blend of fruity flavors really brought it home for me.”

This soda in particular was not overly sweet, something hard to come by at Dutch Bros.

White Zombie Freeze: “Does it taste like flesh?” Lia joked as Mehdi took a sip.

Thankfully, the taste of flesh was absent; instead, the flavors of white chocolate and vanilla prevailed.

The coffee was also weaker in

With this in mind, we headed to Dutch Bros (4625 Manzanita Ave., Carmichael) and asked the employees for 15 randomly flavored drinks.

See the rest of the review online at www.scdsoctagon.com.

— STORIES AND RATINGS BY JACK CHRISTIAN

THE BEST ...

Marmalade Iced Soda: If you love grapefruit, the Marmalade Soda is your drink.

The marmalade flavor had strawberry, orange and grapefruit, but grapefruit was the only taste we could detect.

This wasn’t a bad thing, however.

This has been my standard order for a year, but I’ve always suspected there was something better on the menu I didn’t know about.

Seniors Mehdi Lacombe, Abby LaComb, Lia Kaufman and I — all Dutch Bros lovers — wanted to put my theory to the test.

this freeze than in the others, bearing a strong similarity to the Golden Eagle Mocha, which contained white chocolate and caramel.

This was Abby and Lia’s favorite coffee drink of the day.

Blackberry OPP Blended Rebel: “The citrus just hit me!” Mehdi said.

And Mehdi was right. This blend of orange, passion fruit, pomegranate and blackberry was as sweet, fruity and citrusy as can be.

“If you could taste Lush, this is what it would taste like,” Mehdi added.

While a soap taste was undeniable, the fruity-flavor blend was just right.

We became obsessed with this drink and kept sipping all afternoon; Mehdi was even converted to ordering the Blackberry OPP Rebel instead of the James Dean Rebel as his regular drink.

Orangesicle Blended Rebel: Sweet Sunrise Frost: Go-Gurt was one of my favorite snacks as a child. I mean, who doesn’t love yogurt in a squeezable package?

If you’re a Go-Gurt lover like me, make sure to try the Sweet Sunrise Frost.

This milky blend of peach, passion fruit, orange and banana tasted like peach yogurt or ice cream.

The texture, however, threw many of us off. We were used to the fizziness of the soda or thickness of the blended Rebel, and the smooth, lacy texture of the frost took some getting used to.

The Orangesicle Blended Rebel reminded us of our childhoods, sitting out in the warm Californian (or French, in Mehdi’s case) sunlight licking an orange popsicle.

The Rebel’s only flavor was orange; the citrus was even more powerful than in the OPP. Abby described it as frozen, sweet, popsicle-y orange juice — something we could all relate to.

Missing, however, was the cream flavor found in a creamsicle’s center. The Orangesicle had vanilla flavoring, but we couldn’t taste it.

AND THE WORST

Double Rainbow Soda:

SEASICK Senior Lia Kaufman grimaces after tasting Ocean Water Frost. The group later threw the drink in the trash because of its lotion-like consistency.

PHOTO BY JACK CHRISTIAN

PYRAMID A stacked view of the 15 random drinks ordered. PHOTO BY JACK CHRISTIAN

As with the tropical soda, the coconut in this drink was overpowering; it also contained strawberry and peach, but the only lasting taste was coconut.

Essentially a milder version of the tropical soda, the Double Rainbow tasted of candy peach rings without a ton of sugar.

There was no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

Tropical Iced Soda: Some (crazy) people enjoy the taste of cough syrup. Only they should drink the Tropical Iced Soda.

The mix of passion fruit, coconut and blue raspberry tasted like candy with a coconut aftertaste.

We couldn’t stomach it.

“If you have coconut shampoo, this is what it tastes like,” Abby said.

Also, how is blue raspberry considered “tropical”?

The best part of this drink was its color: bright blue, like the waters off a Hawaiian island.

Ocean Water Frost: After multiple curse words and screams of hatred, the four of us violently threw this frost into the garbage.

What would cause such a visceral reaction? Well, like the tropical soda, it had too much coconut.

Confusingly, the ocean water flavor consisted of lime, blue raspber-

ry and coconut, tasting nothing like a drink you’d have at the sea.

Worse, the frost base did not meld well with the coconut flavoring, so the drink had the taste — and consistency — of coconut body lotion.

The drink even smelled like coconut, making us all gag.

10

Feature • January 15, 2019

The Octagon

Alumna’s book about mystics featured in Amazon highlights

V

ictoria Loustalot, ’03, recently wrote her third book, “Future Perfect: A Skeptic’s Search for an Honest Mystic.”

The book was one of five featured in Amazon’s December highlights.

fell somewhere in between those two extremes.

Q: What other research did you do?

A: Once I had established there was a gap in the market, the real research began.

My research involved over 100 interviews with psychics,

BY DAVID SITU astrologers, shamans, clairvoyants, intuitives, police deQ: What made you decide to tectives, private investigators write another book? and individuals who went to A: It was all thanks to my astrologers and psychics regfriend getting married and ularly, as well as individuals wanting to go see a psychic. who had been scammed by The psychic gave us all fraudulent psychics out of readings that were so descrip- hundreds of thousands of tive — she attached times, dollars. dates, genders, names — and (I also researched and inI thought, “Oh, that’s really terviewed) neurologists and wild.” people with medical backAnd then five or six months grounds, scientists who study (later), so much of what she the brain and the impact of told us came meditation on true. the brain and I did things Then I was what happens like, “Oh man, like partici- p h y s i c a l l y what do I make pating in shamanwhen we tap of this?” It was into religious so unexpected ic drum circles ideas, spiritual since I’d been and group mediideas, practicso cynical. es and rituals. tations where you I started try to tap into your I also read talking about scientific artispirit guide. ” it with other cles about pro—Victoria filing, the way people. I found Loustalot we assess peomyself chatting about it with ple and make co-workers or assumptions other friends of mine, and I about them and the way we noticed something really in- read people or situations. All teresting — people really re- of this comes when you think sponded to this experience I about a psychic reading a perwas telling them. son — how much of it is an Often, folks would wait un- “ability,” and how much of it til later, pull me aside private- is being super observant and ly and say, “I didn’t want to say telling people what they want anything in front of everyone to hear? else, but I had this crazy expeI did things like participatrience with a psychic.” It was ing in shamanic drum circles people I never would have and group meditations where expected, lots of highly edu- you try to tap into your spirit cated people. guide. Not a lot of those group Everyone was sort of quiet activities made it into the about it. It was like everyone book, but they were certainly seemed to have the same dirty a big part of the research. little secret. Then the light I (also read) as many books bulb went off in my head: as I could get my hands on — “Oh, there’s totally an audi- books on religion and spirituence here.” al practices, books written by Most books on the subject psychics, books on astrology, fell into two categories. Half books on different cultures were by people who believed and their approaches to shathey had psychic abilities or manic practices. who were practicing astroloSo (the research) was trygers and building a brand. ing to untangle all The other half were writthose different ten by people who were practices — highly, highly skeptical what their simand were writing to deilarities were, bunk the myths around where they these phenomena. lined up and There was where room for a book that

they diverged. It was a lot of interviews, a lot of books and a little bit of travel.

But for the most part, it was a lot of conversations.

Q: How did you decide what information to include?

A: That’s really one of the hardest things about nonfiction. Just because it happened or because it’s true or because you did that interview and it took you six hours to transcribe doesn’t necessarily mean that any part of that experience or any of those quotes belong in the final piece.

(Everyone I interviewed) was so incredibly generous with their time, ideas and beliefs, but there were certain individuals who I spent time with whose words and philosophies resonated with me more than others.

The people I featured were individuals whose work found itself at the intersection point of not just some psychic or astrological ability but also ideas of philosophy, science, the mind, the brain and religion — recognizing that all of those different strands are seeking to answer the same questions about meaning, purpose and why we’re here.

The individuals I interviewed that saw similarities between astrology, Buddhism and Greek philosophy, for example, were the people that I was much more interested in spending time with and giving more space in the book.

ACCOMPLISHED AUTHOR Victoria Loustalot, ’03, has written three books, the first of which — a memoir called “This is How You Say Goodbye” — is a staple at Country Day as summer reading for juniors. PHOTO BY BETH BAUER

esting to explore.

A lot of those questions — how you actually get a fake psychic arrested and prosecuted and how you build that case — are really interesting but sort of a different book.

about me and my life, and whether they were true.

Sitting down to write it and figuring out the balance between the personal and the public and the private was very tricky — I really just kind of had to go by instinct.

Q: How did you put all this I wrote a lot of the chapters information together to almost sort of as independent write the book? essays and then tried to find a Q: Is there any information A: When I originally set out to way to interweave them after or activity that didn’t make write this book, I assumed and the fact. It definitely wasn’t a it into the book that you’d hoped it would be my least case of sitting down and saylike to talk about? personal project to date. I real- ing, “All right, page one and A: I interviewed a couple terly wanted to write a nonfiction page two all the way to page rific police detectives and one book that didn’t involve me at 300,” or whatnot. private investigator. Their all, which, now looking at the The first draft was 355 pagwork was fascinating, but finished product, is comical es. I ended up cutting a lot only one was willing to speak because it’s extraordinarily out. It was like I had the puzon record. zle pieces, but Law enfiguring out forcement has how they fit Sitting down to write it and figuring a lot of expetogether was a out the balance between the perrience with lot of trial and scam artists. I sonal and the public and the private was error.

Like did thorough- very tricky.” printing evly enjoy the in—Loustalot erything out terviews with and putting the detectives it all on the and private inpersonal and (I’m) extraordi- floor and saying, “OK, maybe vestigator and the video footnarily vulnerable.

I take this section and put it age of undercover work they When I started interview- here.” had done to get fake psychics ing these psychics and meIt became a physical, tactile on camera doing their scam diums, all of them made our experience, like each page to get them arrested. interview personal because was a puzzle piece on my The whole notion of –– that’s what they do for a liv- living room floor and I was “How is it really a scam? We ing. Anytime I would ask a trying to piece it together — all know that the future can’t question, they would inevi- which is not a method I necbe told, so if you give sometably find a way to answer it essarily recommend, though one $200 and they you a using me as an example. it eventually was effective. reading that doesn’t come When I sat down to trantrue, isn’t that just scribe these interviews, there Q: Can you tell us about your own fault?” was no way to write about being one of Amazon’s fea— was interthese interviews and these tured books? p e o p l e A: Amazon highlighted five w i t h o u t books on Dec. 1 for the whole acknowl- month as a sort of recome d g i n g mended booklist. The other t h i n g s books were all various kinds that they of fiction, so the only nonfichad said tion book they had selected for the month of December was mine, which was cool.

The book didn’t come out until Jan. 1. But since it was KICKIN’ BACK Junior David Situ reads “Future Perfect: A Skeptic’s Search for an Honest Mystic” by Victoria Loustalot, ’03. the featured pick for Amazon, it was available for purchase According to Situ, it’s an “interesting read.” PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JACQUELINE CHAO

and shipped throughout December.

On the one hand it wasn’t out yet, but on the other hand, it kind of was — at least in the world of Amazon. So I sort of had one foot in the publication door and one foot not quite out yet.

Psychologically, I was thinking, “Oh, no one’s going to read this book until January. I have a little more time before I get the onslaught of reactions.”

But then people were reading it a month before I thought they were going to, so I had to catch up emotionally.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A: With this book, so much of what I was writing about was happening in the moment, like I was live-tweeting. So I had no distance from it emotionally or physically. I was just trying to get it down on the page as the ideas unraveled.

It was such a different way of writing than I’d ever done before. It made me feel extraordinarily vulnerable because I didn’t know how things were going to evolve; I was taking a leap of faith.

I feel like a different person having written this book.

The journey and experience are on the page, and it’s scary, vulnerable and raw, but that’s really cool.

This book is really for anyone interested in growth and expansion, in wrestling with those ideas of spirituality and why we’re here. It’s not a book just for people who are interested in psychics or mediums.

Look online at www.scdsoctagon. com to read the full Q&A, as well as a review of Loustalot’s book by Situ.

The Octagon

January 15, 2019 • Feature

11

From stabbing pains to possible major surgery, three students get lung condition within two years

H

oles are sometimes useful.

Put a few holes in a bowl, and you can sift through water to find gold or drain water from pasta.

ence.

Atsuo Chiu, ’18, junior Spencer Scott and Wu received consecutive diagnoses of spontaneous pneumothorax — the rarest form of the condition — within two years.

What wasn’t uncommon, though, was that all three were males.

That gender disparity isn’t a coincidence, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The condition occurs in approximately .000127 percent of U.S. males and .000036 percent of U.S. females.

And according to Wu’s father, Mike Wu, his son, diagnosed with a spontaneous pneumothorax in 2018, fit the description of people in which the condition occurs.

“The doctors said that spontaneous pneumothorax happens to skinny male teens,” Mike Wu said.

Another “skinny male teen”— Chiu — said he had the “classic sudden chest pain and shortness of breath” characterized by the condition after school one day. Max Wu, though, wasn’t in as calm of a situation; he was on the move.

“I was on my way to basketball practice, and when I got out of the car, I felt a pain in my chest,” Max Wu said. “It wasn’t anything too bad, and I thought, ‘It will just go away.’”

unable to do his homework due to the pain. His father took him to the hospital the next day for an X-ray, which revealed a pneumothorax. “(The doctors) said that one side of his lungs collapsed and an air pocket has formed in the space,”

BY MING ZHU Mike Wu said.

That didn’t mean the Wus were Now imagine pumping air into a free to go home, and that explanasack with one little hole in it, and no tion “freaked out” the sophomore. matter how hard you blow, the air “I had a mini heart attack,” Max will not stay in the sack.

Wu said. “They told me I had a hole Now, what if the sack were your in my lung, and I was immediately lung? Such is the case with a pneugoing to go to the emergency room,” mothorax.

Max Wu said.

A pneumothorax is a rare condiHis father was also overwhelmed tion caused by a hole in a lung that by the news. causes it to collapse. This became “I was very concerned,” Mike Wu a reality for three high school stusaid. “I didn’t know about pneumodents. thorax or the risks or what we’re According to senior Emily Hayes, dealing with. It seemed very serious a certified EMT, a lung naturally has — the doctors told us to go straight a layer of air between the visceral to the E.R.” pleura (the wall of the lung) and the According to Mike Wu, the docparietal pleura (the lining between tors installed a Thora-Vent into his the rib cage and the lungs). The lung to pump air out of the air pocklayer of air keeps the lung inflated et. In addition to sealing the hole by creating a vacuum with negative and recirculating the air, the device pressure, Hayes said. monitors the intrapleural pressure However, weak spots may be presvia a diaphragm that moves up and ent in the visceral pleura, she condown with respiration. tinued, and movement of the lung Once the pneumothorax is recan rip open a hole, causing air to solved, the diaphragm stays perfill the space between manently in the “down” the visceral and the paposition, according to I was on my way to basketball pracrietal pleura. As more Kardia Medical Inc. tice, and when I got out of the car, I air builds up outside of Almost two years bethe lung, the air loses its felt a pain in my chest. It wasn’t anything too fore Max Wu’s pneumonegative pressure and bad, and I thought, ‘It will just go away.’” thorax, the same condithe vacuum disappears. tion struck Scott in the —Max Wu middle of a history class Without the vacuum, the lung starts to colin December 2016. lapse.

“I grabbed my binder, But according to Max Wu, this stood up and felt a really sharp pain According to sophomore Max Wu, one of the students with the pain rapidly intensified during his in my lung,” Scott said. condition, a pneumothorax can oc- practice.

“I walked across campus with this “When I started playing, I got really sharp pain — like a knife in cur from physical damage — such as a hard hit to the chest — ruptur- bumped around a bit,” Max Wu my chest — to physics where I took ing the lung. In rare cases, however, said. “That was when I felt a really a test. I went through the test, (but) this condition occurs spontaneously, sharp pain in my chest, and I had to later I had to text my mom (to pick causing a hole to appear randomly sit out for the rest of the practice.” me up) because it really hurt.”

After he went home, Max Wu was in the lung without outside influScott said he had an X-ray and re-

X-RAY VISION After being taken to the hospital, sophomore Max Wu received an X-ray. It shows a deflated section of his right lung and an air pocket near his spine. PHOTO COURTESY OF WU

turned to school. The next day his parents received Scott’s diagnosis.

“I was at a friend’s house,” Scott said. “My parents picked me up because they got a call from the doctor, who said I needed to get to the hospital because I had a hole in my lung.

“Then my parents were like, ‘Oh, sweet Jesus.’”

According to Scott, he was given an oxygen treatment upon arriving at the hospital.

“They thought the (trapped) air

might just (flow) out of my (chest),” Scott said.

“It sounded like a smart idea since a doctor was doing it, but it didn’t work. I just sat there for about an hour inhaling oxygen.”

After the oxygen treatment failed, Scott was sent to the intensive care unit for surgery.

“They (said they) would cut a hole in my side, stick a tube in and suck the air out,” Scott said.

“They told me that I would end up with a tube in my side, and it would be really uncomfortable.”

According to Scott, the surgery took about an hour, and the Thora-Vent chest tube stayed in his body for the rest of the day.

“What was really interesting was that the skin above my lung felt like an inflated balloon when I pressed my chest,” he said.

But unlike Scott’s, Max Wu’s tube stayed in for a few days.

“After removing the tube, the doctor gave me two options,” Max Wu said. “Either I could do surgery to permanently remove the chance of this happening again on my right lung, or I could take the risk.”

Max Wu said the surgery was very expensive and would take two days to complete, so he declined.

“I didn’t want to do it — it was really scary,” Max Wu said.

However, without getting the second surgery, he risks recurrence, he said.

“I have a bigger chance of getting it again, and my lung will deflate faster,” he said. “If I don’t go to the emergency room immediately, I might die.”

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, 13 to 60 percent of patients had a recurrance.

Despite the risk, Max Wu continues to play on Country Day’s boys basketball team.

12

Backpage • Janurary 15, 2019

The Octagon

GRAPHIC BY EMMA BOERSMA

STREAM ON From original series to Spanish TV, Netflix (almost) has it all

S

BY SARINA RYE

ophomore Sydney Turner prefers Hulu over Netflix for one reason: Netflix just can’t keep up.

“Netflix doesn’t have ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ — Hulu does,” she said.

However, Turner doesn’t actually need to choose just one since she, like most students, uses multiple services.

Of 97 students polled on Dec. 11, 86.5 percent use a streaming service for TV and film; 53.5 percent of them use more than one service.

Netflix is the most popular service, used by 94 percent of students who use a streaming service. Amazon Prime Video, Netflix’s closest contender, is streamed by 34 percent; only 27.3 percent said they use Hulu, and 16.6 percent said they stream via another service.

Of students who said they stream via only one platform, all but two opted for Netflix.

Despite Netflix’s popularity, it costs the same as Hulu, starting at $7.99 a month. Amazon Prime Video (Prime) starts at $4.99 per month, but a subscription to Amazon Prime, necessary to use Prime Video, costs $129 per year.

Junior Michelle Whitney uses only Netflix but said Hulu would be next on her list.

“There is a show, ‘The Last Man on Earth,’ that’s really funny, and I’ve seen it only through somebody who has Hulu,” Whitney said.

“Different streaming services have different content, and it’d be great if I could view all of them. But I have only Netflix since it’s the only (service) my dad is paying for.”

Most students who use streaming services— 86.9 percent — use services paid by their parents; 8.3 percent pay for their own accounts, and 5.9 percent use a friend’s account.

For sophomore Erin Wilson, that “friend” is her half-brother’s mom’s ex-husband.

“I don’t know if he knows (my family uses) it,” Wilson said. “He knows some people do,

but I don’t think he knows how many people.”

She said he gave his password to a few people who then passed the information to others.

Wilson received it from her half-brother.

She said her half-brother’s mom’s ex-husband doesn’t use the account much, so she encounters few problems.

“Sometimes he won’t pay for it (on time), and then (my family) can’t watch it, which is annoying,” Wilson said.

Sophomore Joanne Tsai doesn’t have that problem, as she pays for Netflix herself.

Tsai said she started using Netflix only after coming to the U.S. from Asia, where she has lived in China and Taiwan.

While Netflix is available in Taiwan, Tsai said people don’t use it as often as they do in the U.S. “Some shows they offer here are not offered in Taiwan,” Tsai explained.

Netflix is blocked in China, and Tsai said she knew little about Netflix while overseas.

“My parents don’t use Netflix, so I pay for my own account,” Tsai said.

Tsai also uses Amazon Prime Video but said the shows on Netflix are better.

Senior Grace Naify also pays for her own account — at least, she used to.

Naify paid for a premium account on DramaFever, a Korean-drama streaming service that shut down in October. According to Variety, this was due to the increase of licensing costs for U.S. distribution of K-dramas.

“They also had some Japanese shows, but not anime,” Naify said.

“It was mostly all dramas. They had a lot of Chinese stuff too.”

Now Naify uses Viki, which she said has many of the same shows DramaFever did.

“Before I deleted DramaFever, I looked at my watchlist, and I wrote down all the shows that I had yet to watch on there and tried to find them on Viki,” Naify said. “Most of them came up. What sucks is DramaFever had ex-

CLASS IN SESSION Senior Grace Naify watches Korean drama “Cheese in the Trap” in the library after school. In this scene, protagonist Hog Seul (played by Kim Go Eun) confronts Baek In Ho (Park Hae Jin) after Ho steals Seul’s term paper. PHOTO BY CHARDONNAY NEEDLER

clusive shows solely for that company. There (were) a couple of those that I never got to watch, and I regret it.”

Naify said she likes original content but has seen only one Netflix original movie.

“I watched ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ — the one everyone saw,” Nafiy said. “I just started getting into Netflix the past year.”

But Naify said she uses Viki the most.

“I mostly watch shows on Netflix by myself, like all my Spanish TV shows,” Naify said. “But on Viki I have a couple series that I watch with my friends. I’ll go to (senior) Kyra (LaFitte’s) house, and we’ll pick a show to watch off Viki and watch it only when we hang out.”

Naify said she used to use Crunchyroll, a free streaming service for anime, but rarely does anymore.

However, senior Michaela Chen still does.

Although Crunchyroll has a $6.95-permonth premium feature, Chen uses the free version, which includes ads and less content.

“It’s pretty popular,” Chen said. “It features a lot of different anime shows.”

Chen also has Prime and Netflix. Of the three services, she said she uses Netflix the most.

“Amazon Prime just doesn’t have as many of the shows I prefer,” Chen said. “I haven’t used Amazon Prime in a long time. Netflix has ‘The Office,’ which I’ve been watching lately, and a few anime that I like as well. Netflix has more shows that are better targeted toward me.”

One anime Chen watches is Netflix original “Violet Evergarden” since it’s “well-drawn.”

But not everyone likes Netflix originals.

“Netflix original shows are actually kind of terrible,” Turner said. “Oh, they’re so bad!

‘Insatiable’ is horrible. What is the plot? And ‘The Kissing Booth’ was so bad.

“But ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ was cute. And ‘Stranger Things’ is really good.”

Wilson had a similar sentiment.

“Sometimes Netflix originals are good,” she said. “Other times they’re annoying or corny.

They’re either really good or really bad.”

Sophomore Brian Chow disagreed.

With his brother’s Netflix account, Chow watched mostly original shows, such as “Stranger Things” and “The Crown,” which he said he loved.

But now he doesn’t use streaming services.

“I think (my brother) canceled his account — that was sad,” Chow said.

But Netflix isn’t the only service that produces original content.

Senior Josh Friedman uses Prime for “Man in the High Castle” and “The Grand Tour” and Hulu for “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

“If those two shows weren’t on (Prime), I wouldn’t use it,” Friedman said. “And there is nothing else on Hulu worth watching for me.”

Because he watches only these three shows on other services, Friedman prefers Netflix.

“It has more shows that I watch regularly,” Friedman said. “There’s ‘The Office,’ ‘Parks and Recreation,’ ‘The Great British Bake Off’ and a whole bunch of other shows.”

Friedman also watches Netflix originals.

“I just finished ‘American Vandal,’ and it’s really, really funny,” he said. “I also like all their stand-up stuff with Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and all the great comics they have on

there.”

Ju n i o r Maddie Woo said she likes Chappelle’s and Tom Segura’s Netflix comedy specials.

“But sometimes the shows have weird comedians,” Woo said.

Friedman added that although he watches more TV shows on the Netflix app, he still watches movies sent to his family twice a week through Netflix’s DVD delivery service.

“Sometimes they’re just random movies we didn’t know were put on our list at all,” he said.

“Apparently there are very few people in the nation who still use (the DVD service). I’m one of the three people that still do.

But 10 years ago, Netflix was known for its DVDs; it didn’t begin streaming until 2007.

Senior Luca Procida, who will be attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, commented on the growth Netflix has achieved, saying it’s “jumping into the awards circuit” with the original movie “Roma,” a film centered on the life of an indigenous handmaid in the Mexican neighborhood Roma.

“It’ll most likely win an Oscar for Best Foreign Feature,” Procida said.

“If a Netflix film was at the Oscars 10 years ago, everyone’d say, ‘What? That’s the DVD shipping company!’”

However, Procida said he doesn’t think Netflix originals will reach the level of Hollywood cinema, developing since the 1920s.

“In terms of purely creative content, it’s of the same caliber of Hollywood,” Procida said.

“But cinematically, it’s not. Netflix can’t afford (Marvel’s) ‘Infinity War’ levels of CGI, so Netflix puts a lot of money into prosthetics, makeup costuming and practical effects.”

Despite this, Procida said that online streaming is the “next big thing.”

“Online streaming is the public’s most easily accessible entertainment,” Procida said. “Netflix has been at the forefront for the past five years, and they have the most experience.”

Some don’t use Netflix at all, however.

Sophomore Keshav Anand has access to his family’s Netflix account but said his “go-to site” is YouTube for short, 10-minute videos.

“I usually don’t watch movies because of schoolwork, and Netflix has mostly 40-minute shows,” Anand said.

Like Anand, junior Anu Krishnan frequently uses YouTube because she doesn’t have cable or a streaming service.

Krishnan said that although not being able to watch TV shows might benefit her studies, she still gets preoccupied with other tasks.

“I still get distracted by reading books and can still binge YouTube,” Krishnan said.

When hearing people discuss TV shows, Krishnan said she usually can understand the story — but not always.

“When people were talking about ‘Stranger Things,’ I didn’t really know what it was, but I just went along with it,” Krishnan said.